The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights across the United States, citing what it described as extraordinary circumstances and safety reasons. The emergency directive took effect at 3:54pm Eastern Time on Friday, instructing all departing aircraft to remain on the ground until further notice.
The ground stop is expected to affect thousands of flights and hundreds of thousands of passengers, given that US airspace typically handles around 45,000 flights a day. Airports across the country were ordered to close to departures, according to the regulator. The advisory stated that international flights arriving in the US are being handled on a case-by-case basis.S1S2
The FAA has not specified the nature of the safety concerns behind the order, which has been described only as unspecified safety concerns in the advisory.S3
